During World War II, the US Army and Army Air Forces codes were decoded by the Japanese. Navajo Indians developed a code using their language, which was complex and lacked a standardized alphabet. The code was used by over 400 Navajo Marines in the Pacific battles and was never broken, saving countless American lives. The Navajo code talkers were sworn to secrecy, and their story was declassified in 1968. In 2000, Congress honored the 29 Navajo Marines who designed the code with the Congressional Gold Medal.
During World War II, the United States had trouble devising codes that could not be cracked by Japanese cryptographers. Those used by the US Army and Army Air Forces had both been decoded, and the Japanese were able to intercept and interpret the messages relating to troop movements. In 1942, a group of Navajo Indians joined the United States Marines where they formed 282nd Platoon and were tasked with developing a code using the Navajo language. Members of this unit are known as the Navajo code talkers.
The idea for the project was conceived by Philip Johnston, a man who grew up in a missionary family on the Navajo reservation. When he served in World War I, Johnston learned of a case where Choctaw Indian soldiers used their native language to confuse the Germans. Johnston was among a small number of non-Native people fluent in Navajo, and he was convinced that the lack of a standardized Navajo alphabet or other written linguistic materials made him a perfect choice for a codex.
Navajo is a complex tonal language where a word with an identical pronunciation can have completely different meanings depending on the tone used. Unlike many Native American languages, Navajo has been spoken continuously for centuries and is still common on reservations in New Mexico and Arizona. Despite this continuity, no formal alphabet or orthography had been accepted by the Navajo to create a written language at the time. This was a distinct advantage because there were no written resources to help cryptographers decrypt intercepted messages.
The first group of Navajos recruited for the project consisted of 29 young people. After basic training, their job was to develop Navajo code words for over 400 military terms. In some cases, they were able to use terms that would paint a picture, like the word for hummingbird to describe a fighter jet. Other code phrases used several words to spell an English term. Once the code was designed, these original Navajo code talkers composed a comprehensive dictionary to be memorized by other natives recruited for the project.
Many young men were eager to volunteer as Navajo code talkers, and between 1942 and 1945, over 400 of the 540 Navajo Marines served in this capacity. They were assigned to all six Marine divisions and were active in signal broadcasts for all major Pacific battles including Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima and Peleliu. The machines used early in the war to encode, transmit and decode took 30 minutes to communicate three-sentence messages. Navajo code talkers were able to accomplish the same feat in just twenty seconds.
All 411 code words were memorized in training and no written records were allowed in the war arena. The skill of the Navajo code talkers has become legend and they have been credited with saving countless American lives. During the first 48 hours of the battle for Iwo Jima these warriors transmitted 800 messages without making a single mistake.
The Navajo code has never been broken, and because of its strategic importance, all speakers of the Navajo code are sworn to secrecy about their service. It wasn’t until the project was declassified in 1968 that their story became public. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan offered the group’s first official recognition, and in 2000, Congress passed legislation honoring the 29 Navajo Marines who designed the code with the Congressional Gold Medal.
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